Port of Los Angeles awards $6 million to fund 22 zero-emission trucks

The Port of Los Angeles has awarded a total of $6 million to two trucking companies and their truck manufacturer partners to speed up the transition to zero-emission (ZE) drayage trucks, according to the company's release.The grants will defray the cost of putting 22 pre-production emissions-free models in Port service during 2023.
 
Two L.A.-area licensed motor carriers, Gardena-based MLI Leasing and El Segundo-based Performance Team, will receive $3 million each – the maximum funding per trucking company available under the Port’s Zero Emission Truck Pilot Program. Each carrier has partnered with a leading original equipment manufacturer to qualify for the incentive. MLI is working with Peterbilt and investing more than $3.4 million to produce and deploy 12 ZE trucks. Performance Team is working with Volvo and investing more than $5.6 million to produce and deploy 10 ZE trucks.
 
All 22 will be battery-electric models that will be on the road within the coming year. Each vehicle must make at least 50 drayage trips annually to Port of Los Angeles terminals.
 
The awards, approved by the Los Angeles Harbor Commission last week, represent the first distribution of Clean Truck Fund (CTF) dollars by the Port of Los Angeles since April 1 when the San Pedro Bay ports began collecting $10 for every loaded 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) moving through the Port by truck. The Port expects to raise $45 million within the first 12 months and each subsequent year based on the current rate.
 
The CTF rate is paid by cargo owners or their agents. ZE trucks are permanently exempt. Trucks with low emissions of nitrogen oxides (low-NOx), in accordance with state standards, are temporarily exempt until Dec. 27, 2027, provided they are registered in the San Pedro Bay Ports’ Drayage Truck Registry by the end of 2022. More information on the Port’s current Clean Truck Program is available here.
 
The program builds on the Port of Los Angeles' original Clean Truck Program, which has played a crucial role in reducing emissions of diesel particulate matter by 84%, sulfur oxides by 95% and NOx by 44% from port-related operations since 2005. While only 2007 or newer models are currently eligible to call at the Port, more than half are 2014 or newer models. Effective Jan. 1, 2023, all trucks calling at the San Pedro Bay ports must be 2010 or newer models.
 
Still, 95% of the drayage fleet serving the port complex runs on diesel. The push to turn over the entire fleet to ZE models by 2035 is expected to yield greater clean air progress, including reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from all port-related sources 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The ports established GHG reduction targets in the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan 2017 Update.